Collaborating with Artists' Estates, Foundations, and Studios
Photo: American Stripping Company (ASCo), reproduced courtesy ASCo and the Tony Smith Estate.
Twenty-eight 4 x 8 foot panels painted to replicate the specific black used by Tony Smith. Panels were created to test the possibility of paint roller application of high performance paints normally intended to be sprayed; rolling paint is less expensive and easier to apply than spraying.
EFS-Approved Coupons
The project team is collaborating with artists' estates, foundations, and studios (EFS) to discuss how these organizations can provide conservation professionals with guidelines for repainting outdoor sculpture. The discussions so far have been focused on how the estates, foundations, and studios can determine the artworks' visual properties—color, gloss, and texture—and how best to replicate these using available paint resources.
Specifically, the project team discussed the creation of EFS-approved coupons (a coupon is a substrate with applied paint) to serve as a definitive resource in determining what color a sculpture should be painted. Rather than relying on specific paint products, whose formulations change over time, conservators would use these coupons, upon their approval by the appropriate EFS, to match color, texture, gloss, etc. when undertaking treatment or repainting.
These discussions led to the development in 2012 of the Conservation Institute’s Paint Coupon Repository. The coupons provide a reliable physical reference for conservators, pending consultation and agreement with the artists’ studios, foundations, or estates.
To aid in the production of these coupons, the Conservation Institute published Documenting Painted Surfaces for Outdoor Painted Sculptures. These guidelines are based on ASTM standards, paint industry practices, and consultations with experts in the fields of industrial paints and outdoor painted sculpture conservation, for the production and documentation of paint coupons.
Current Collaborations
The project team has worked extensively with the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Getty Museum to document Lichtenstein's original paint system for outdoor sculpture (see Resources section) and with the Louise Nevelson Foundation on a new paint system for City on a High Mountain (1983). It is currently collaborating with the Calder Foundation, the Tony Smith Estate on the creation of foundation-approved paints.
When original paint is no longer available, either on the artwork, as coupons, or in a commercially available product, as is the case with Louise Nevelson's black, the project team will explore alternative means to recreate that information. They will rely on original studio materials when available, the expertise of Nevelson scholars, and those involved with the fabrication of her sculptures to produce Nevelson Foundation approved coupons.
The Conservation Institute is also working with Spacetime C.C., Mark di Suvero's studio, to preempt this problem by gathering information and material evidence on the paints and colors being used by the studio. The project hopes to build on this work to include collaborations with more artists' studios, estates, and foundations in the future.